Volkswagen EV breaks altitude record

In 2021, professional driver Rainer Zietlow completed the longest ever journey by an electric vehicle in a single country, more than doubling the previous world record by driving more than 57,500 km throughout the USA. This year, he set out to make another record attempt: the highest altitude achieved in an electric car.

With a Volkswagen ID.4 GTX, Zietlow travelled to Bolivia to climb the world’s highest, still-passable mine road, at the Uturuncu volcano, using only electric power. The mine road had undergone repairs after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Zietlow was the first to be allowed to use the restored road up to the old mining area.

“Our goal was to show that electromobility is also capable of high performance at extreme altitudes,” he said.

After four hours and 20 minutes of driving, Zietlow reached the end and highest point of the mine track: 5816 m above sea level, 45 m higher than the previous record. On the journey to base camp through Argentina and Bolivia, he was able to rely on charging infrastructure from Enel X Way, which had been installed at various hotels every 300 km along the route for the 2020 electric motorbike project ‘The Long Way Up’ by actor Ewan McGregor.

Once back in La Paz, Bolivia’s seat of government, Zietlow was presented with the Guinness World Record certificate by a Guinness representative at the German Embassy. The challenge was also actively supported by HARTING Technology Group, VW’s Tier 1 supplier of charging cables and the original equipment manufacturer of the onboard charging cables.

“Congratulations to Rainer Zietlow for this great success,” said Marco Grinblats, Managing Director at HARTING Automotive. “We are delighted for him and his team on this further Guinness World Record. This has once again sent an important signal and raised awareness of the fight against climate change.”

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